You've hopefully read my column by now (CLUE: look at the front page of SG), so you'll know how I feel about this subject. So, what do you reckon? How would you make it a bit more exciting? Post your replies here.

Well what can I say? I agree with you, Champions League (CL) is boring, until you reach the quarterfinals and you really get the tough guys out on the field.
I'll say that UEFA should cut the crap and only let the champions from every country enter the tournament, which I'm pretty sure would mean better and more exciting matches with more intensity and better play. Come on UEFA!!!!
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I subscribe your opinions completely. http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/mad.gif
This millionaires' competition that UEFA created is nothing but a plain fraud, because (like everybody knows) it includes other teams that ARE NOT the champions of a league. That's why Spain has in the quarter finals 2 teams (nothing against being Spanish, but the Spanish champ is ONLY ONE)

I'll tell you more. In Portugal the national Cup is not just a knock-out competition, but each round only has a game per round for each team. Which means that if Benfica has to play FC Porto at Porto and loses, they're out of the cup!! Knock-out and one-game-round turn the games much more exciting, because even smaller teams have much more chances of getting through!


Give us back the Champions' Cup with CHAMPIONS ONLY and from ALL EUROPEAN LEAGUES, not just the ones that are supposed to have more chances.

GIVE US BACK CHAMPIONS' CUP & CUP WINNERS' CUP

We love FOOTBALL!, not PubMoneyBall!!! http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/mad.gif

Are you guys nuts? You must be the same people who always insisted that Cup Winners Cup was the best cup, right???

People want to see the biggest and best teams battle it out vs each other, this does not mean champion of Lithuania vs champion of Switzerland! If its first round then it must be Man United vs Anarthosis Famagusta, boy that sounds exciting...

Nope. It was just a football competition between the cup winners from European countries, and I don't know what was terribly wrong with it so they had to stop it. Ask last years' winner's supporters if they were disappointed for winning it.

And if the biggest teams are "the" "biggest", they should have no problem on trashing the weakest in the first rounds and have BIG games as the champions cup/league reaches the final games.

And, yes, with TV and all the publicity around it...

Probably, UEFA changed the system of the competition is so that more top european teams can take part in the tourney.

For example : Manchester United and Bayern Munich, They are not 98/99 champion in their league and qualified through a qualification round . But both of the teams showed wonderful football last season and met at the final

So you're saying that UEFA should have a cup competition but prevent any of the teams that won't make good TV from making the latter stages? The greatest cup competition in the world, the FA Cup, is largly referred to as such because it is built on romance and excitement. Your example of a Man Utd vs Anorthosis is interesting - how about a one-legged Goteborg vs Real Madrid match in the middle of a Swedish winter, with Madrid having to win or be eliminated? That would truly show that they could cope with all conditions and be the greatest in Europe. A great team would be prepared for anything. I would love to see this sort of one-legged match where team would have to attack away from home rather than sit back, take a 0-0 or an away goal and then try and win at home.

Exactly!

The problem is that nowadays, the priority isn't sport anymore. Instead of changing the competitions to give more interesting football games, they are modelled according to the profit they can make...

What is wrong with having more interesting football games? I think the current format insures that each week from beginning to end of the competition you have good match-ups. By the old system you would have to waith till quarter-finals to see class teams going at each other. Also your idea that the old system was the best is fine if you are a die-hard fan of a league that follow your country's teams exclusively(for ex. I know that many people in England do just that, I listen to British radio and they don't even report the results of games where English teams don't take part). So for those people who could't care less if your contry's team is not playing I say yes I see your point. But for football fans that like to follow different leagues and teams, I think this system is best.

And about the FA cup, yes it is a nice competition, but seriously you think people around the world are waiting in anticipation for let's see, Wrexham vs Wimbledon match? I don't think so. Sitting through 2 hour highlights of 4 and 5th round ties is downright painful compared to the Premiership, at least to me it is..

[This message has been edited by PolishPower (edited 03-25-2000).]

[This message has been edited by PolishPower (edited 03-25-2000).]

PolishPower has got a point here. My point of view is that of someone who doesn't go and watch big Premiership games week in week out, but as someone who turns out to see Cheltenham in a 6000-capacity ground every week. For the typical 'casual fan', I can imagine that the lack of a big name team would turn them off. However, I reckon that if one of those fans turned on and saw Manchester United or Real Madrid having to give it 100%, which they don't have to in the league stages, and saw some absolutely barn-storming football, then they'd be converts for life. My basic point is this - if we've got dull football when we've got the best teams in the world playing then we've got really boring 0-0 football all too often? If we could turn every game in Europe into a classic, wouldn't that be for the best? And perhaps we could introduce some of the smaller clubs in Europe that don't turnover millions of pounds a year to the casual fan who can name a couple of players in the world - and wouldn't that be something?

I agree with PolishPower. Knock-outs are more spectacular in general but doesn´t garantee that the "best" team wins. Much depends on form-of-the-day. Would MUFC fans be glad if their club was eliminated by Jazz Pori that just happened to get a goal behind Bosnich and they themselves had one of those days that they hit the bar and post for eight times but never get a goal in. Do we wnat to determine our european champion like that? A league is in fact, as you stated drinky, boring and teams will be more calculative. I think UEFA didn´t choose the worst scenario for the CL.
I do agree that it should be exclusivly for the champions of the various countries.
And about it being a millionaires league. While tis maybe true, let´s not forget that a very big part of the profits are used by UEFA to fund developement programs in the "lesser" football countries.

I think that what makes football a spectacular game is the fact that any side can win, even though it's not the favourite.
That's why I believe it's wrong to make the strongest teams' life easier. Basically, they just have to prove it! The money isn't the problem until you cheat the sport to get more $$$.

The league format isn't totally bad, because it provides more games and the opportunity of more people to watch big clubs play with their teams. But that has a limit!

When you have a league to decide who plays another league to determine who are the last eight and who is transferred in the previous league to play the UEFA cup that has nothing to do with Champions League and only in the last league the last eight really play knock-out rounds but won't play UEFA cup anymore and all this after you've already eliminated the weakest teams in the first three rounds before both leagues but those can still play in UEFA cup......
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I think they've gone too far...

I agree that UEFA have gone too far in allowing the losers to participate in the UEFA-cup and the current structure of the CL is a bit awkward. One group round and after that knock-outs would suffice I think. It´s true that true romantism lies in a big team being knocked out by a minor team and it surely is spectacular, but I continue to say that it won´t give us the "real" champions. I still don´t believe that in knock-outs any big club can prove their value against any other club. That can only be true if there is an equal match-up. That is: full squads (no suspensions or injuries on both sides), even conditions (no Russians playing in their winter against Greeks) and fair referees..... In a league at least clubs have the chance to compensate for that. So a format that joins both league and knock-out would be nice, right?

I agree that the second round of group games(the one that just finished) could have been cut, instead they could have gone straight to knock out matches.

I do like the fact that the 3rd place finishers went into UEFA cup, I think this way you keep interest of the teams that get knocked about in the first few games, leaving them with something to still play for.

I don't really like the new Champions League:
Why calling it Champions League if most of the teams are not champions. But also, there are now too many games now and a Classic Real Madrid - Bayern Munich has lost its beauty because the players can't cope with playing every three days and the quality of the game may suffer and because it happens too often. It's like having a world cup every year, it would lose its interest. Many coaches and players disagree with the new format and it is fair enough.
I'd also like to see the Cup's winners Cup back because even if the level was different to the other euro cups, it allowed less unknown teams to compete and to have a go at their own European cups. The former format had the advantage to be a great window to euroteams outside the Fab 4 (Englend, Italy, Spain and Germany). Now, there are hardly any East European team anymore and it is hard too keep up to date with these teams.
No... If you ask me, the new format sucks...

Wow!!! It seems like I'm the only person that likes the new format! Sorry, but UEFA said last week that next year will be the same format, this was under consultation with the teams that made the league this year and with G14 teams.

I do agree with the point that too many games are being played and players are too exhausted, but my solution would be to reduce the number of games in the domestic cups, and reduce the number of teams in leagues. For ex. England and Spain should reduce the league to 18 teams, England should get rid of League Cup and replays after draws.

Becks .... I like that idea ..... but it would have to be on neutral ground. Sending Galatasary to The Nou Camp, or Sparta Prague to Old Trafford is suicide for the away teams .... dont care how good they r. One problem .... there are 47 leagues in UEFA, some teams are going to get bumped out.

if you want to make it more exciting, then UEFA should organize a tournament like March Madness, take the 64 best teams in Europe, rank them accordingly, each country is guaranteed at least one team, and then let them play! this is knockout style, so if you have a bad game and lose to a team you shouldn't have lost to... too bad!